#5
So finally under Trump America Inc will really be run by America Inc and not some flim-flam actors. Isn't that an improvement? At least you have an address for any complaints.
The Afghan National Army (ANA) is set to launch a large scale military operation in northern Afghanistan in a bid to eliminate the Taliban who are threatening security in what was once the safest region of the country.
The operation is aimed at eliminating insurgents in northern provinces, said general Mohmand Katawazai, the commander of 209 Shaheen Army Corps.
As part of their military offensives against insurgents in the north, the Afghan army on Sunday started maneuvers in Baghlan in preparation for their upcoming battles.
“As part of Operation Shafaq 2, we are now coordinating with governors, security commanders in the provinces and chiefs of the NDS (National Directorate of Security) to launch joint military operations against the Taliban in northern provinces,” said Katawazai.
“Military practices will help us to enter the battlefield with more potential and better experience,” said an ANA officer in the Baghlan military corp, Mohammad Omar.
“We are determined to defend the nation until the last drop of our blood; but for this we need the support of our people so that we win our battles,” said another officer, Sayed Hussain Hussaini.
Katawazai pledged to recapture Baghlan’s Dahana-e-Ghori district that fell to insurgents four months ago.
This comes as security continues to deteriorate in a number of now volatile areas in the country.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) received the first A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft in Kandahar Airfield amid ongoing efforts to boost the airpower of the Afghan forces to suppress a resurgent Taliban. (U.S. Air Force photos by Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Noonkester)
The planes were deployed earlier this month and a ceremony was organized to mark the arrival of the aircraft.
Members of the 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, participate in a ceremony for the arrival of A-29 Super Tucanos with Afghan Air Force members from Kandahar Air Wing Dec. 1, 2016," according to 438th Air Expeditionary Wing.
The statement further added "The ceremony marked the arrival of the A-29s to KAF. Participants from both the AAF and US Air Force welcomed the arrival of the increased combat capability to the region."
The Afghan Air Force received several A-29 and MD-530 Cayuse helicopters from the United States earlier this year which are playing a key role in providing close air support to the Afghan forces.
"The AAF’s capability to provide airlift, casualty evacuation (CASEVAC),4 and organic aerial fires continue to improve as the Department of Defense (DoD) fields more aircraft to the AAF and as its pilots and crews gain operational experience. With the fielding of 12 additional MD- 530 attack helicopters during the reporting period and several more months of operational employment of the A-29 light attack aircraft, the AAF demonstrated increasing effectiveness in providing aerial fires in support of ANA ground forces," according to the latest Pentagon report, Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan.
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12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Gazoo’s terrorist rulers are still providing Sinai Province group with weapons and medical aid, despite a supposed thaw in their relations with Cairo.
Despite an apparent thaw in relations between Egypt and Gazoo and the expected opening of the Rafah Border Crossing in the coming week, Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", is still allowing the transfer of injured Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... fighters to the Gazoo Strip, while also ignoring the smuggling of weapons to the Sinai Peninsula destined for the murderous Moslem organization’s local branch, according to Arab sources.
Continued on Page 49
[Libya Herald] The former head of the Transitional National Council Mustafa Abdul Jalil has changed his mind about restoring the monarchy as the only answer to stabilising Libya. He has now decided that as an alternative, Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter could be president.
Four days ago, speaking in a TV interview, Abdul Jalil suggested that the restoration of the former monarchy under Prince Mohammed al-Rida al-Senussi provided the best way of stabilising the country. He appears to still hold that view but says in his latest interview on the Hadith al-Arab channel that if a restoration is not possible, then there are others who would make acceptable presidents.
One is Hafter, another is Jadallah Azzouz Talhi.
Talhi’s name was one of 12 proposed by the House of Representatives to the UN-brokered Libya Dialogue in September 2015 for consideration as Libya’s next prime minister.
However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... the twice former General Secretary of the People’s Committee under Qadaffy and then foreign minister until 1990 is said to be in ill health and not interested to become involved in politics again. From eastern Libya but educated in Belgium (and a translator of French books into Arabic), he was appointed minister for strategic industries at the beginning of the 2000s. From the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2009, he was Libya’s UN ambassador.
For his part, Hafter is known to see himself as Libya’s future head of state but while strongly supported in parts of the country he is also seen as a divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... character who could never unite the country behind him.
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12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a joint presser with US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... , that any agreement in Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... must be based on the Gulf initiative and the decision of the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Jubeir added that Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... calls for the world to take tough action to stop Iran’s interventions in the region.
Kerry announced that ISIS is on its way to defeat.
The Secretary of State said the US condemns the terrorist attacks, that took place in the Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday.
He added that the world must end the war in Yemen in a way that will protect the security of Saudi Arabia, urging all Yemeni parties to return to the negotiating table.
From his part, Kerry stressed that, like Saudi Arabia, his country rejects Iranian interference in Yemen.
Prior to the conference, King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... received Kerry whose trip, come ahead of the inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... Kerry held as well meetings with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and other royalty in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
"In turbulent times, it’s good to have solid friends," Kerry told journalists Sunday night.
"That’s why the United States’ partnership with Saudi Arabia is rightly so valuable."
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12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelNationalNews] JTA - The head of Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency made a secret visit to the United States to meet with members of President-elect Donald Trump staff and give them a security briefing.
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen briefed the Trump staff members on the Iranian nuclear deal, the Syrian civil war, terror threats and the Palestinian issue, Ynet reported Saturday. The report did not say when the briefings took place.
The security delegation was organized by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to Ynet, and was led by National Security Council head Yaakov Nagel. Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer reportedly also attended the meetings.
An interesting comparison to what the CIA has to say in a few weeks... and to the content of the private security reports he most certainly must have been getting to properly manage his various investments.
[DAWN] ISLAMABAD: In its report on the Aug 8 krazed killer attack on the Civil Hospital, Quetta, the Justice Qazi Faez Isa inquiry commission has underlined the need to make the country’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence ...the Pak military intelligence agency that controls the military -- heads of ISI typically get promoted into the Chief of Army Staff position. It serves as a general command center for favored turban groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, tries to influence the politix of neighboring countries, and carries out a (usually) low-level war against India in Kashmir... (ISI), accessible to the public.
Even the people wishing to convey information to the spy agency about suspicious activities have no means to contact it, according to the report.
The commission asked them about any mosque or madressah having direct or indirect links with the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami or any other organisation banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
The commission received responses from all the wifaqs stating that a total of 26,465 seminaries were affiliated to them. They said they were committed against the spread of hatred and extremism and stated that if any madressah affiliated to them indulged in wrongdoing they would proceed against those running it.
The 110-page report has pointed out that the ISI neither has a website nor an email account. When the commission checked whether the spy agencies of other countries too were inaccessible, it found out that almost all the important agencies had made their contact details, like telephone numbers and email addresses, public.
The Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Intelligence and the National Security Agency of the United States have all provided their contact particulars on their publicly reachable websites.
The Military Intelligence Section 5, Secret Intelligence Service, National Counter Terrorism Security Office and the Counter Terrorism Command of the United Kingdom have also provided their contact particulars on their websites, according to the report.
The commission said that it wrote letters to the government functionaries, seeking information and answers to certain questions. Subsequently, responses were received from the Establishment Division, Finance Division, ministries of interior, religious affairs, states and frontier regions, Federal Investigation Agency, ISI, National Counter Terrorism Authority and office of the National Security Adviser. But none of the responses was on a letterhead. All of them were on plain pieces of paper which didn’t mention any address, email account or even a post office box number.
The responses from the governments of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... and Sindh followed the same pattern.
The report said the commission, which was constituted by the Supreme Court, faced considerable difficulty in ascertaining the whereabouts of the ministries, government departments and agencies. One could only sympathise with the poor citizens who might have to interact with these organizations.
"If such nebulousness serves a purpose it could only be to remain aloof and unapproachable and therefore unquestionable and unaccountable," the commission regretted.
The commission also expressed surprise over the role of the Frontier Corps ...a provincial paramilitary force. Total manpower is about 80,000. They are tasked to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and a..the Antwerp-based Salafist organization that had campaigned to introduce Sharia law to Belgium before single-handedly making Belgium the highest per capita supplier of jihadis to Syria in Europe. There was a big trial in Antwerp in 2015, but most of those convicted were in absentia...nti-smuggling operations.... (FC) and said it was not clear exactly what its role in Balochistan was and whether it had policing powers.
The report also cited the "confused response" at the highest level, as the chief secretary and commandant of the Ghazaband Scouts of FC said the FC had policing powers whereas the federal interior secretary stated that no such powers had been given to the corps.
Referring to the education boards of seminaries (wifaqs), the commission said it wrote letters to five of them -- namely Wifaq-ul-Madaris-al-Salfia, Wifaq-ul-Madaris-al-Arabia, Wifaq-ul-Madaris-al-Shia Pakistain, Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Pakistain and Rabita-ul-Madaris-al-Islamia -- and their association Ittehad Tanzeem Madaris.
The commission asked them about any mosque or madressah having direct or indirect links with the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami or any other organization banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
The commission received responses from all the wifaqs stating that a total of 26,465 seminaries were affiliated to them. They said they were committed against the spread of hatred and extremism and stated that if any madressah affiliated to them indulged in wrongdoing they would proceed against those running it.
The Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Ahle Sunnat Pakistain, however, spoke of the difficulty in monitoring each madressah, and said the state was responsible for doing so.
Surprisingly, the ministry of religious affairs said the total number of registered seminaries stood at 11,852, adding that data from the Wifaq-ul-Madaris-al-Arabia was still awaited.
The commission regretted that the ministry did not possess even basic data about the seminaries nor did it appear to have the ability to obtain it. As per the information provided to the commission by the wifaqs, there were 26,465 seminaries in the country.
There is no central depository of the basic data, including the number of seminaries and their particulars, nor is the ministry, or any other authority in Pakistain, even now attempting to obtain and collate it, according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on Sunday, said a statement issued by military’s media wing.
The Saudi king and the army chief agreed that both the countries share great history of cordial relations and deep spirit of brotherhood which has transformed into an enduring partnership, read the Inter-Services Public Relations statement.
It was also acknowledged that both Pakistain and Kingdom of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... are vital players in regional stability, "with significant responsibility towards the entire Moslem ummah".
Both leaders re-emphasised the need to continue working to eliminate the menace of terrorism and reinforce the mechanism to roll back extremism with even greater vigour.
General Bajwa met Chief of General Staff of Saudi Forces Gen Abdul Rehman bin Saleh Al Bunyan. --Photo courtesy ISPR
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12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Social media websites published lately photos of a person called Mohammed Reza Haque, who was said to be the new “Jihadi John” of the Islamic State.
Mohammed Reza Haque, 36 years old, from Bethnal Green in east London, is a follower of the extremist British cleric Anjem Choudary and his personal bodyguard since 2011, and usually seen dressed in black from head to foot.
He was also charged with a public order offence after burning Remembrance Day poppies in 2011.
In a new video released by Amaq, the Islamic State’s media wing, Haque was shown beheading five Western prisoners in the same manner as the murderer Mohammed Emwazi, who was also known as Jihadi John.
In the video, Haque is seen dressed in black and uses a jagged hunting knife to behead a prisoner against a desert backdrop, in a similar act to the one featured earlier by “Jihadi John.”
The victims are shown wearing orange bodysuits and made to kneel, before one of Haque’s fellow jihadis delivers a speech in Arabic.
He said: “These apostates who kneel, disbelieved and fell into apostasy, and championed the Crusaders and helped them against Muslims.
“They thought they were safe, but God shamed them, and they will be slaughtered by the knife which will slaughter those like them,” he added.
The murderers then slaughter the victims, and stand over their bodies.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
one solution might be to deport his family.
Another might be to tell the SAS he is a priority target.
Is the Brit government ever going to do anything about Choudary or are they going to let him continue to spout his sewage?
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is unlikely to send a sum of 38 billion IQD to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces on a monthly basis, even if it is fixed in the 2017 budget law, said a government official.
Fazil Nabi, Iraq’s deputy minister of finance, told Rudaw that "until now Abadi has not agreed on sending the sum to the Peshmerga," which the Kurdistan Regional Government is entitled to receive outside of funding promises stipulated as part of the Erbil-Baghdad oil agreements.
Out of the portion of the budget dedicated to the Iraqi Infantry Forces, 38 billion IQD is expected to be given to the Peshmerga forces.
Nabi added that "If the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) does not reach an agreement with the Iraqi government on the exportation of oil, Baghdad will not be ready to send the sum to the Peshmerga."
Nabi insisted that he will ramp up efforts to force Baghdad to send the Peshmerga’s share aside from any agreements. However, it was a brave man who first ate an oyster... he explained, "if no deal is struck, Baghdad will undoubtedly make problems even in sending this amount."
The Iraqi parliament in early December passed a 100.67 trillion Iraqi dinars (about $85 billion) budget bill for 2017, with Kurdistan’s two main parties on opposite ends of whether it contains any good for the autonomous region.
The two main Kurdish parties also voiced different views of the budget bill, with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) slamming it as containing nothing good for the Kurds and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) hailing its role in the making of the budget as "a valuable achievement."
MPs in Baghdad approved the budget based on projections of an oil price of $42 per barrel. It forecast a deficit of 21.7 trillion dinars ($19 billion) and spending of 100.7 trillion dinars.
Nabi in an earlier exclusive interview with Rudaw deemed the 2017 budget a "bomb" planted for the Kurdistan Region.
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12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] More than five months after the city of Fallujah was liberated from ISIS, not one of its 350,000 residents has returned home. People are still living in the thousands of tents built in the dusty deserts surrounding the city.
Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to ISIS. The Iraqi army and the Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi regained control of the city in June, but life has not started to normalize in the city.
Fallujah is of strategic geographical importance due to its being only 60 kilometers away from Baghdad, the capital. It was here that ISIS first imposed its rule early in January 2014, 6 months prior to their invasion of djinn-infested Mosul
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Fallujah infrastructure and social fabric in ruins post-ISIS
Another trait they share in common with their socialist apologists.
#2
Fallujah was also known as the ’city of mosques,’ home to 220 mosques.
Militants took up positions in some of these mosques when the Iraqi army mounted an offensive to recapture the city; most of them were destroyed in the fighting.
I remember how much effort the Marines put into not damaging those mosques. It's good to see the Iraqis themselves show how all these "sacred places" should be treated.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
12/19/2016 12:06 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Leb acquired a new 30-minister government Sunday led by Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , bringing together the entire political spectrum except for the Christian Phalangist party that rejected the portfolio it was offered.
"This is a government of entente," Hariri said of the new line-up formed six weeks after the election of President Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women’s affairs.
Hariri said the Phalangist party had been offered a minister of state post but had turned it down.
The new government will have "at the top of its list of priorities to preserve security against the fires ravaging our region," Hariri told news hounds.
He stressed that the government would act to "preserve our country from the negative consequences of the Syrian crisis".
On November 3, former premier Hariri was nominated to form Leb’s next government, but the process was seen as likely to be hampered by deep differences with the powerful Hezbollah movement.
Hariri, 46, is anti-Syria and a fierce opponent of Leb’s influential Shiite Hezbollah, members of which have been accused by an international court of involvement in his father’s 2005 liquidation.
But he was forced to throw his support behind Aoun, their candidate for the presidency, in order to secure his return to power as premier.
Hariri’s government will have two ministers from Hezbollah.
His nomination and Aoun’s election after a two-year vacuum have raised hopes that Leb can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.
Hariri also announced the establishment of a state secretariat for refugees, and called on the international community "to take responsibility for helping our country bear the burden".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/19/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Michel Aoun
